Joy of Zentangle - new book review

I just got my new copies of  'joy of zentangle' last week and I want to give you my quick review of it.

It's a nice, fat, paperback book. It's not the cheapest at $24.99 list, but I do think it gives you value for the money. There are 159 pages and instructions for 101 tangles. There are 8 chapters. The basics are covered. The philosophy and benefits of zentangle are explained. There are lots of color pictures of ZIAs (zentangle inspired art) too. The book gives credit to Suzanne McNeill CZT, Sandy Steen Bartholomew CZT, And Marie Browning CZT. There are lots of contributions from other CZTs throughout the book.

In the section for the 101 tangles there is a separate page for each tangle with all the steps clearly shown. In addition to the steps there is something extra on most pages. Sometimes it's a tile using that tangle. Sometimes it's an inspiration for that tangle. Or it might be an explanation of how zentangle has played a role in helping someone in their life.

The page that's pictured here shows a zendala that I did. It shows the Printemps tangle pattern in use. So there is a little bias from me in reviewing this book - but honestly, all I got was one free copy. 

Now, there is one caveat that I have for this book. This book is, in large part, a compilation book. By that I mean, that a large percentage of this book has been featured in other Design Originals books. Is that bad? Well, it depends. If you are starting out with zentangle, or if you want to get a gift for someone new to zentangle, this is actually a great book. If you already have the vast majority of the series in your library though, you may be disappointed  Personally, I think that there are enough new things to make this book worthwhile but I will leave those individual decisions up to you.